Given a supremely tough draw in the 2012 Davis Cup, the United States is off to an exhilarating start.

It swept Roger Federer and Switzerland in the first round, with Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan winning the doubles match on clay, a surface selected by Federer to exploit what was perceived as an American weakness.

Yeah it's in the USA, both Isner and Querry have really good serves, However, I'm not really impressed by either of them. and Andy is smarter than both of them. The Bryan brothers seem to be losing more these days, so yes they are definitely beatable. It would be great if I could go and see Andy play live.

Eh.....well before all this gets moved Angie, I just want to say I'm a huuuge Rod Stewart fan too! Got all his old LPs, but sadly......nothing to play them on these days! Maybe I'll be able to get them on CD now! I never did get to see him live, but I once saw a stripper dressed up as him and dancing to his songs on a girlie night out! Don't suppose that counts though!

You can still buy turntables here in America, so perhaps you can get them where you live. If you knew someone with a turntable you could play them and record on a digi recorder and put it on your computer and burn to a disk. Question? Where you live, are CD's the same as in the US? If so I may be able to burn them for you.

You can still buy turntables here in America, so perhaps you can get them where you live. If you knew someone with a turntable you could play them and record on a digi recorder and put it on your computer and burn to a disk. Question? Where you live, are CD's the same as in the US? If so I may be able to burn them for you.

Awww.......thanks Apollo! That's so good of you, but don't worry......Santa will be bringing me some CDs!

My main concern about the US tie is its proximity to the AO which ends on Sunday 26 January. This tie starts on Friday 31 January, so assuming Andy goes far into the tournament, particularly if he reaches the final, he's going to have precious little time to adjust to conditions in the US. Also the time difference, assuming the tie is played in, say, New York, will be 15 hours behind Melbourne (I think!), so the jetlag will be considerable, and Andy doesn't cope well with jetlag. Add to that travel fatigue on top of the exertion of playing in the AO, and you really have to wonder what his performance and fitness levels will be like coping with more best of five matches against Isner and Querrey.

My main concern about the US tie is its proximity to the AO which ends on Sunday 26 January. This tie starts on Friday 31 January, so assuming Andy goes far into the tournament, particularly if he reaches the final, he's going to have precious little time to adjust to conditions in the US. Also the time difference, assuming the tie is played in, say, New York, will be 15 hours behind Melbourne (I think!), so the jetlag will be considerable, and Andy doesn't cope well with jetlag. Add to that travel fatigue on top of the exertion of playing in the AO, and you really have to wonder what his performance and fitness levels will be like coping with more best of five matches against Isner and Querrey.

Shouldn't be a problem, both Novak & Rafa managed it last week, with a change of surface to boot.

Shouldn't be a problem, both Novak & Rafa managed it last week, with a change of surface to boot.

I don't know Gnome. Some people cope well with jetlag while others don't, and Andy is one of those who, by his own admission, doesn't. He claims it takes him nearly a week to fully adjust to the transition from the UK to Oz, which is five hours less than Oz to the east coast of the US - eight hours if he has to travel to the west side of the country. Novak only had to cope with the transition to Serbia and Rafa played in Madrid and on his favourite surface.

My main concern about the US tie is its proximity to the AO which ends on Sunday 26 January. This tie starts on Friday 31 January, so assuming Andy goes far into the tournament, particularly if he reaches the final, he's going to have precious little time to adjust to conditions in the US. Also the time difference, assuming the tie is played in, say, New York, will be 15 hours behind Melbourne (I think!), so the jetlag will be considerable, and Andy doesn't cope well with jetlag. Add to that travel fatigue on top of the exertion of playing in the AO, and you really have to wonder what his performance and fitness levels will be like coping with more best of five matches against Isner and Querrey.

Sorry to be a stickler for time zones guys but Melbourne is (+9 GMT) and New York is (-5 GMT) which means that there is 10 hrs difference between NY and Oz....if you go the opposite way. If the tie is in west coast US then it's 7 hours difference which is still not ideal but ultimitely better than Oz to UK for example if it was a home tie.

All would be tricky as Andy doesn't cope well with the jetlag seemingly but I'm sure he would have enough to beat Isner and Querry with room to spare. Although the Bryan Bros are beatable you have to assume that it would be a struggle. Then that leaves Evo to punts to beat either Isner or Querry which is very possible. I think it is a decent draw, not least because it should be on hard courts.

Sorry to be a stickler for time zones guys but Melbourne is (+9 GMT) and New York is (-5 GMT) which means that there is 10 hrs difference between NY and Oz....if you go the opposite way. If the tie is in west coast US then it's 7 hours difference which is still not ideal but ultimitely better than Oz to UK for example if it was a home tie.

All would be tricky as Andy doesn't cope well with the jetlag seemingly but I'm sure he would have enough to beat Isner and Querry with room to spare. Although the Bryan Bros are beatable you have to assume that it would be a struggle. Then that leaves Evo to punts to beat either Isner or Querry which is very possible. I think it is a decent draw, not least because it should be on hard courts.

Thank you for the correction Hamish. I never could get my head round geographical locations and obviously had Andy going in the wrong direction!

I know he claims to not cope well with jetlag, but there's ways with coping temporarily.

True PE. Players use light boxes and take melatonin tablets to help ease the effects of jetlag, although if that lag is large, like say 10-12 hours, then it could still take a few days to adjust properly. However even a slightly under par Andy should still be able to beat Isner and Querrey in best of fives.